From Twitch To Netflix: Meet Two Latinas Taking Up Space In Tech

We know that there aren’t enough Latina women in tech. They make up just 1.7% of women in the industry, hold less than 1% of leadership roles in Silicon Valley, and earn under half of what white, non-Hispanic men make. Many leave within a year, citing poor working conditions.

When you look at these statistics, it can be easy to focus on the lack of diversity in the tech industry. But, this Hispanic Heritage Month, we have decided to spotlight the achievements of Latinas who are defying the odds.

We spoke with Angélica Lozano-Romines, founder of Gaming is Resilience, and Nicole Zolnier, a software engineer at Netflix, who won Best in Computer Science while a student at the University of Central Florida. Both are part of Latinas de RTC, a Rewriting the Code program that connects more than 2,300 Latina women in tech across over 250 colleges and into the workplace.

Beginnings in Tech as Latinas

Both Lozano-Romines (Mexican, Choctaw, Mississippi Choctaw) and Zolnier (Brazilian) developed an interest in tech at a young age. “My career with tech, in a way, started with MySpace days,” Lozano-Romines tells POCIT. Like many millennials, she first experimented with coding by customizing her profile. But without a mentor to guide her toward a career in tech, she studied social sciences in college before returning to the field in 2017 when she started streaming on Twitch.

For Zolnier, her entry into tech was multiplayer online game Club Penguin and later Facebook, where she experimented with design. “Then I got into websites, and I did a boot camp about web development.”

Both women said they did not see many Latine people in tech growing up. “I remember the first time I stepped foot in a classroom for a coding class. I looked around, I looked around, I couldn’t see anyone that looked like me,” Zolnier said.

Lozano-Romines, who is a part-time professor for Esports, says that space is predominantly white, but “if I do see, like, you know, Latina, it’s mainly Latinos.”

Systemic issues affecting Latinas

Although both women were drawn to tech early on, they say breaking into the industry can be especially difficult for Latinas without support. Lozano-Romines says the digital divide and lack of representation are part of the problem, but she also believes family responsibilities play a part, too.

“A lot of Latinas, at least from my experience and from what I’ve read, are expected to stay at home and take care of other family members,” she says. “We’re expected to get married and start a family, like we’re not seen as career people.”

Zolnier says imposter syndrome is another barrier. “Like, can I really do this? I don’t see anyone like me doing it, so how can I try? I feel like it’s the lack of knowledge of where to start.”

Rewriting The Code

Zolnier first discovered RTC on a LinkedIn ad for their career fair. “I wasn’t able to attend the career fair, but shortly after, I was able to join,” she explains. After joining RTC, she was impressed by how much the nonprofit was preparing members for the state of the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE).

“They had a lot of sessions to prepare you for it. So they gave me a resume review, tips on how to succeed in the conference, and also private events with companies.” RTC even sponsored her trip to Harvard for ‘We Code’ to meet other women and be inspired to pursue a tech career.

Lozano-Romines came across RTC while searching for resources that supported Indigenous people. “I saw the representation and the community, and it felt like they were really there to support you,” she says. Through RTC, she went to the Capital One and Twitch headquarters, where she met others working in tech.

Today, Lozano-Romines is the founder of Gaming Is Resilience, a space for Indigenous gamers. Zolnier now works at Netflix, focusing on JavaScript and improving data accessibility for her team and stakeholders. Their journeys serve as reminders that, while representation is still lacking, Latina women in tech are driving the industry forward.

---

Image: Angélica Lozano-Romines and Nicole Zolnier